Tell me about White Nights and Murder Mysteries

[drsb]

Hi

 

I will be on the Pearl for Thanksgiving and I have heard about white night parties and murder mysteries. What are they? Do they have them on every cruise? I am guessing the White Night party is a dance in Bliss? What is special about it?

 

Is the murder mystery a dinner? How do you sign up to attend? Where do hold it?

 

While I am asking questions about the Pearl, do they still have wine/martini/margarita tastings? How much do they cost?

 

Do they have afternoon tea on any days?

 

How much does it cost to bowl and do the rock climbing wall? Are they available while under way or only in port? Are there long lines to do them? When is the best time to go?

 

And the wii screen in the atrium. Do they let you play wii whenever you want?

 

Thanks!

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

Hi

 

I will be on the Pearl for Thanksgiving and I have heard about white night parties and murder mysteries. What are they? Do they have them on every cruise? I am guessing the White Night party is a dance in Bliss? What is special about it?

 

Is the murder mystery a dinner? How do you sign up to attend? Where do hold it?

 

While I am asking questions about the Pearl, do they still have wine/martini/margarita tastings? How much do they cost?

 

Do they have afternoon tea on any days?

 

How much does it cost to bowl and do the rock climbing wall? Are they available while under way or only in port? Are there long lines to do them? When is the best time to go?

 

And the wii screen in the atrium. Do they let you play wii whenever you want?

 

Thanks!

 

We had a great time at the murder mystery dinner. I think the sign up was on the second day of the cruise? Very hard to find but the time and place to sign up was in the freestyle. We were going to sign up but then decided not to. One night while going into the main dining room, there was this long line with a woman checking names. She came up to us and asked if we were in the murder mystery, we said no, then she said a couple never showed, so she asked us to join.

 

We sat down, met 3 other couples at our table. We were give a script to follow, each of us playing a part. We ate dinner and played. great fun!!!

[coka]

Hi Drsb,

 

Yes, white hot night parties are on all sailings. The murder mystery dinner might be offered and it might not be offered.

 

White hot party, big promotion by the staff during the day, they all wear white hot party t-shirts (available for sale of course in the Galleria shop). Passengers are encouraged to wear white but you do not "have" to. All types of dress will be seen from casual to dressy. It is in Spinnakers because it holds more passengers than Bliss can. Every ship does it a bit differently and it depends on the Cruise Director and his/her staff. Common parts include the staff getting everyone to dance, at intervals the ship dancers will come out and perform to a few songs. They will have drink specials and it always appears that everyone is having fun. Personally, I think the staff look forward to it.

 

Look in the Freestyle Daily for the Murder Mystery Dinner. Usually you sign up at the reception desk. You will need to meet in a specified location at a specified time where the cruise staff will review who is who and what is what. You get your "role" along with the booklet of what you "say." After being put in groups, you all go to the main dining room where they have a section for all participants. Then you are left to play the role and try to figure out who dunnit. Yes, it can be fun.

 

 

Yes, they should have the tastings as long as enough passengers sign up for them. They are usually 15 dollars per person. Never done them yet but those who have usually report they are well worth the money!

 

Bowling...hmmmm...could be five or could be ten dollars. Bowling available usually all the time...maybe between 9am-Bliss closing.

 

Never saw a charge for the rock climbing wall.

 

No, I have never seen afternoon tea.

 

Wii screen in the atrium...only available during certain times of the day. Be on the lookout in the Freestyle Dailies.

 

 

Have a Great Time! This years Thanksgiving Cruise looks like a fun one!

 

coka

[drsb]

Thanks for the replies. I don't know if I plan to pack any white clothes, but I will let the "kids" know about it if they want to join in. I have done land based murder mysteries, so I might have to look for that. I sign up for wine tastings on most of my cruises, but have made it to just a few. They have been hit or miss on good wines vs cheap ones.

 

I can't wait to get away!

[sbartist]

The White Hot Night Party was in the Spinnaker and the Bliss simultaneously - just depended on where you wanted to hang out. I missed out on buying a T-shirt (really wanted one of those too).

 

Murder Mystery - we signed up for this in the Spinnaker Lounge on the first day of our cruise and the murder mystery dinner was a couple days later (on our Alaskan cruise). When you sign up for it, you are given a piece of paper that tells you what day and time to meet and where you will meet. We met in the Stardust Theater to be put in groups totalling 6 people. We watched a short video. We were handed scripts and one person in our group was the "leader" and each person was assigned a role with a nametag of our character. Afterwards we went to the Summer Palace Restaurant with all the other groups and we sat at our own table. We ordered dinner before actually reading our parts and giving clues.

 

Bowling was $5 per person per game and it included shoes.

 

The tastings were $15 per person (for each tasting) and they were all on the same day, and timed 15 minutes apart. We did not participate in this because if you did all the tastings times two people, that would add up very quickly . We could have just gone to several bars or lounges and ordered drinks and taken our time instead of being rushed to each one every 15 minutes.

[flattop223]

The White Hot Night Party was in the Spinnaker and the Bliss simultaneously - just depended on where you wanted to hang out. I missed out on buying a T-shirt (really wanted one of those too).

 

Murder Mystery - we signed up for this in the Spinnaker Lounge on the first day of our cruise and the murder mystery dinner was a couple days later (on our Alaskan cruise). When you sign up for it, you are given a piece of paper that tells you what day and time to meet and where you will meet. We met in the Stardust Theater to be put in groups totalling 6 people. We watched a short video. We were handed scripts and one person in our group was the "leader" and each person was assigned a role with a nametag of our character. Afterwards we went to the Summer Palace Restaurant with all the other groups and we sat at our own table. We ordered dinner before actually reading our parts and giving clues.

 

Bowling was $5 per person per game and it included shoes.

 

The tastings were $15 per person (for each tasting) and they were all on the same day, and timed 15 minutes apart. We did not participate in this because if you did all the tastings times two people, that would add up very quickly . We could have just gone to several bars or lounges and ordered drinks and taken our time instead of being rushed to each one every 15 minutes.

 

I have heard this before can anyone confirm this (how long ago was yours sbartist?). Here on CC others have said that it works out very inexpensive since it is just $15 for the tasting and that it is not per taste but $15 for the entire thing, per person of course.:confused:

[weltek]

I have heard this before can anyone confirm this (how long ago was yours sbartist?). Here on CC others have said that it works out very inexpensive since it is just $15 for the tasting and that it is not per taste but $15 for the entire thing, per person of course.:confused:

 

Each tasting event is $15 per person. For $15, you sample approximately 6 generous "samples" of drinks. If the server overproduces, or feels spunky, you get more. :-) For the two I've been to, there's also a snack. It was a beautiful assortment of cheese at the wine tasting. That alone was worth it.

 

I've heard you can come as a couple and "share" the experience for just one charge if one person isn't a big wine/marg/martini drinker.

[flattop223]

Each tasting event is $15 per person. For $15, you sample approximately 6 generous "samples" of drinks. If the server overproduces, or feels spunky, you get more. :-) For the two I've been to, there's also a snack. It was a beautiful assortment of cheese at the wine tasting. That alone was worth it.

 

I've heard you can come as a couple and "share" the experience for just one charge if one person isn't a big wine/marg/martini drinker.

 

thanks it was originally described to me as being 4 to 6 drink samples at $15 each so I was thinking it was WAY over priced... others have stated it as you have and that is very reasonable.

 

Thanks again for the clarification

[drsb]

Wow, the tastings all at the same time doesnt seem to make sense! People who like to drink would want to do all of them :p. I guess I will have to choose. We have split the tastings before.

 

There is never enough time to do everything on a 7 day cruise.

[trish1c]

The White party is hip & trendy & kind of silly. It just requires people to wear white. Other than that, it's the same as anyother night & they will let you in even if you are not wearing white.

The murder mystery wasn't what I thought it was. I honestly don't know how we got signed up. Tickets just showed up in a cabin. There is no fee. I thought it would be interactive with real actors & we just had to get whodunnit. It's not like that at all.

First we met in the theater. Then they sectioned us into groups of 10 I think (might have been 8). Then they handed out little scripts & character ID cards. 1 person in the group gets a card that says they are the murderer. They aren't supposed to tell anybody. Then the staff walked us through the ship to our tables that had been set up in the big main dining room for us. Once we ordered our drinks we were supposed to start reading the scripts & "acting" out the events w/o getting up. Some people couldn't act. Others couldn't read. It was often very hard to hear some of the other participants b/c the tables are grouped together & you can hear the other groups plus the regular diners. The story unfolds through dinner & then at the end, everyone guesses who did it.

[jdvmd]

On the Sun last March, we went to the margarita tasting but only two other people showed up. The bartender waited a few minutes but ended up having to cancel because she needed to have six people. That said, she was extremely apologetic and ended up making the four of us two different margaritas that would have been two of the six that would have been prepared for the tasting. They were not full size but it was still a wonderful gesture and great customer service.

 

We had friends who went to the martini tasting and I believe one for mojitos, and had a great time. Their tastings lasted about an hour and a half each (became VERY good friends with those bartenders) so they got their money's worth. You can certainly share a tasting also. I can't wait to try several tastings on the Pearl in two weeks.

 

The White Hot Party is a great time. Check out the videos on http://www.youtube.com. This was one of the big reasons for us booking NCL again for fall break. Cannot wait for the party. The staff really promotes the event and looks forward to it. My 11-year-old bought the shirt. We also got him a Coke in one of the lighted-up glasses for something like $3. The cruise director's staff also passes out glow sticks/necklaces.